A police dog ate a pet hamster during a drugs bust, a court has been told.
The sniffer dog was roaming around the house, in Werneth, Greater Manchester, the Oldham Chronicle reported.
It knocked over the cage, and chased the hamster when it ran away. After gobbling it up, it was forced to cough up the animal, which had died, the court heard.
Details of the incident were revealed when the householder, 46-year-old Musa Khan, appeared at Oldham Magistrates Court on animal cruelty charges.
Despite finding no drugs, officers discovered a parakeet in distress during the raid, and took it away.
The RSPCA brought animal cruelty charges against Khan, who pleaded guilty to failure to protect the animal from suffering.
Magistrates banned him from keeping a bird for two years and he was fined £110 after the court heard the bird's cage was dirty with the cage kept on the floot next to a radiator.